Wednesday, January 20, 2010

ECM Initiatives Go Beyond IT

A successful ECM implementation satisfies the needs not just of Information Technology but of the business as a whole. To do this, it must include the active participation of other departments within the organization to address issues of planning, research, and business process analysis and alignment.

For example, the Legal department (or the organization's external legal counsel) will need to review applicable federal and provincial legislation to determine which type of documents must be captured and stored, retention policies, and security restrictions. Human Resources may be called upon to define security access roles based on job functions and to assign employees to these roles. Finance and Accounting may need to identify documents to be classified as records and determine procedures for document capture, cheque scanning, and so forth.

Other questions may include:

  • Do industry regulations require that Customer Service communications be captured?
  • Will Engineering drawings be included in the repository?
  • Will Sales need to capture contracts and RFP responses?
  • Does Manufacturing need to retain production schedules?